Windmill sunday open 20/11/16

After yesterday disaster I was hoping  for a few silvers today to keep it interesting. Only 6 today so all decent pegs, or so we thought, were put in.  I drew 32 in the deeper water. So a bomb rod was set up to chuck 30 metres to the island. A margin rig to fish both sides. Only tried  once with no result so last mention of that. A .5 slim to fish 2+1 up the shelf with caster and maggot over ground bait. And a .75 slim to fish two lines at 13 metres for meat and maggot or expanders over micros. I had Bob "bread head" Price to my left on golden peg 2 and Gerry Welch over on 28. I started on the bomb but after 30 minutes and just a couple of delicate liners I switched to the 2+1 line. A further 15 minutes went by before the first skimmer was landed. But it was along time before the next fish. The bites when they came were tiny dips of the float and most resulted in missed strikes. To cut along story short it was a case of continuously switching around just to get the odd bite. The whole lake was rock hard. Gerry had his first bite and fish after 3 hours. I did manage one carp on a new maggot line at top five length. But that was the only one. Plus a bonus 1lb perch on 2+1 on single dead red. At the end I was sure I'd be nowhere but my silvers, what few I had, went 2-10, which was top today. And my carp took it to 9-5 which ended up second. Winner was Norman Ferris on 22 with 13-4 that I think was three carp. He didn't go in the super pool so I took that. Thanks Norm 😁.

1st Norm Ferris 13-4
2nd Stu Barnett 9-5
3rd Bob Price 4-10

Silvers
1st Stu Barnett 2-10
2nd Bob Price 2-2

Landsend open 19/11/16

Left the house this morning and had to crack  open the doors on the car. Nasty bit of frost. Had a good brekkie at the fishery and went in to draw my peg. Out pops number 9. For company I had Rod Wooten on 11. Same peg he struggled on last week. Russ peck on 5. Opposit was Steve Seager on 15, same as last week. 19 was Rob Watts, same as last week. Peg 3, Mike Ducket, same as last week. Hmmm, there's a pattern emerging here. Three rigs today. A Shalla slim to fish under the bush on the island. And in a gap in the reeds to the right. A .4 slim to fish meat at the bottom of the far shelf. And a .4 pencil float to fish just about everywhere else in the peg as the depth was the same all over. At the start I fed the long lines and dropped in a few casters to my left on the 2+1 line and meat to the right. And some soaked micros on the top 5 line. Starting on the caster line I went 15 minutes with no indications. So it was over to the long meat line. It took a while but I had my first bite. Bit never connected. This happened 4 times over the next 40 minutes so I'm guessing it was just liners. After about 75 minutes I saw a carp on the shallow line so I dropped a six mm pellet on it and the float burried in seconds. But it was foul hooked and after a mad 5 minutes it was netted. Another followed 15 minutes later, but that was the last of the carp action for the day. In fact it was just about the last of all action for the day. Apart from a good skimmer and blippy roach on expander and one quickly lost carp on the long meat line, I hardly had anymore bites. Rod suffered the same fate. With bites a premium and only two Carp for his efforts. Steve opposite won on the day with 42-8, and Mike Ducket second with 36-5. The practice they had on those pegs last week must have helped. My poultry few went 11-6 which was the lowest recorded weight on the day. All in all a day to forget.

1st Steve Seager 42-8.
2nd Mike Ducket 36-5.
3rd Russ Peck 35-7

Silvers
1st Russ Peck 8-10
2nd Beanie 3-8

Windmill sunday open 13/11/16

Another Sunday morning at my closest fishery. To lazy to drive to far twice a weekend. I think there was 12 today so even spread down both sides of the lake. I pulled out peg 8 which is at the near end of the second island on the far side. Haha that was a mouthful. Fished this peg once before and caught well in the shallow water against the island at about 30 meters. But with the water gin clear I  thought I'd chuck the bomb a bit short in a couple of feet of water. I set up three rigs. A .4 pencil to fish dead reds or caster over caster laced groundbait. A .5 slim to fish meat at 13 metres. And a .3 slim to fish meat down the shelf about 2+2 distance out 10 meters to my left. That rig was tried but had no bites so I'll forget that one. At the start I fed all lines then slung the bomb out to the island. After about two minutes I hooked a carp around 4lb. So I was off the mark. But after another 20 minutes and no more indications I came in on the short line. Wasn't long before a few small skimmers were coming in plus a decent one of 2lb +. Then the carp moved in. In the next 40 minutes I hooked 4 but only landed two. One was close to 10lb though. And on 4-6 elastic and .010 hook link I thought I did well. But that action soon stopped. And it was back to small skimmers. But they dried up too. So it was out on the meat line. But it was slow. I had two, but bites were a very long time coming. The second half of the match was a real struggle and with only one more small carp on the meat most of the time was spent winkling out small skimmers. A couple of the better stamp did come my way. But the carp certainly dried up. The island chuck was a waste of time as there were so many fecking ducks I couldn't feed. At one stage I had 16 of them diving down for anything I fired in. I think a shot gun is required to thin the numbers out. at the end I was guessing  on 24lb of carp and 6lb of silvers. I was spot on with the carp,  with 24-8, but was surprised my silvers went 9lb dead. That put me 4th on the day with top silvers. Winner was Mike Travel with 72lb of bomb and pellet caught carp off peg 2. He also took the golden peg. Second was Norm Ferris with 38-14. Double bubble for me today as I took the silvers and  the super pool as three above me never went in it. Happy days.

1st Mike Travel 72lb
2nd Norm Ferris 38-14
3rd Paul Has es 35-03
4th Stu Barnett 33-08

Silvers
1st Stu Barnett 9-00
2nd John Baker 6-00
3rd Geoff Francis 4-12

Landsend Saturday open 12/11/16

I had a choice today of Acorn or Landsend. And with Acorn being so badly attended and with a bit of wind and rain forecast I opted to head down to landsend. Got there in plenty of time for a change for a nice brekkie then I pulled 21 out of the bucket. I was told that 30lb of skimmers came off it yesterday so I set up to fish a groundbait and caster line at 11 metres. Also a 2+2 rig to fish a maggot over caster line and meat line at different angles. A rig to fish pellet across to the island and a margin rig to fish meat or pellet along to empty pallet 20. Fed all lines at the start and started on the short maggot line but after 20 minutes and no bites I then tried the meat line but again no bites. So it was then a try on the 11 line but things never improved. After an hour and still fishless I went over to the island. But as the water was very clear, I opted to fish a metre off the island just down the shelf, lifting and dropping the rig until the float settled at dead depth. This sort of worked as I got a couple of good carp fairly quickly. But they disappeared a bit quick. The resident big ghosty was bugging me as it just kept swimming past not stopping to feed. I'm sure it's always the same bloody fish that does this. Over the next couple of hours I kept swapping around but bites were a premium. Martin Lanaghan on 22 was hooking  a few but was just as quickly releasing them which cost him dear in the end. Russ Peck on 19 was struggling to keep them on as by half way he'd lost three and landed thee. I did manage a 2lb perch and big F1 from the short maggot line but the meat line was dead. Tried the margin too but again biteless. I had a bit of luck when I dropped my rig between my nets to put some caster in the cad pot and while I was filling it the elastic which was only a couple of inches from my hand shot out and another big perch took the maggot. Gotta be lucky sometimes. I then had a quick trio of carp from the island in twenty minutes. But then a fishless two hours. So with 40 minutes to go I thought shit or bust and fed the island line heavily with about six pouches of pellets. And it worked cos after about 20 minutes a couple of tails popped up. So it was back out and a carp hooked straight away. But it wasn't in the mouth and the hook pulled. Bugger!!. Ten minutes later I netted a 6 pounder. Then with about 30 seconds left that damn ghosty drifted in, I thought to take the piss one more time, but his head went down and sucked up my pellet with just seconds left. My nemesis was on and I got the bugger in the net five minutes after the all out. Phew!!. I thought I had around 50lb and a few were admitting to around the same. Joe McMahon was on 13 and had 53-01. Steve Seager put 47-02 on the scales from 15. Robbie Watts put about 12 carp in the net and had 71-02 for the expected win. Russ chucked back. Then it was my turn knowing it would be close for second. I had 7-04 of silvers and 46-04 of carp to take second with 53-08. For a change I only lost one fish all day and that made a huge difference. Gotta say it fished better than last week but the silvers are still not playing ball.

1st Robbie Watts 71-02.
2nd Stu Barnett 53-08
3rd Joe McMahon 53-01

Silvers
1st Rod Wooten 11-09 peg 11
2nd Stu Barnett 7-04
3rd Mike Ducket 5-06 peg 3

Windmill open.

After sitting in the shade all day yesterday  and feeling very cold it was nice to see the sun out today and everybody would be sat in full sun. Into the draw box and out comes 28. Same peg I came second from last week so was pleased to be in the deep water again. Got to the peg and there was a stiff breeze straight into my face, and it was pretty nippy. A bomb rod was set up and three rigs. One to fish maggot in the right margin at 4 feet deep. A .75 slim to fish maggot over caster at 2+1 about half a metre up the shelf  away from the silt in about 9 feet of water. And another .75 slim to fish at 13 meters over groundbait and caster for anything that swims. Had a couple of carp from that line last week so was hoping for the same plus maybe silvers. Started on the short line dropping  in caster and fishing dead red and pinging 8mm to the island. After 15 minutes and no bites  I picked up the bomb rod and slung it out to the island. Pretty quickly I had. Couple of liners and drop backs. One drop back I hooked a carp for about five seconds before the hook pulled. Eventually a good pull round then drop back and the strike was met with a lunging run for about five minutes before a good foul hooked mirror found its way to the net. Next chuck and a 3 pounder. Then nothing. So out on the long pole line and I had a few small skimmers, but I bumped about 6. The 8-10 elastic was to harsh for the size of fish so a top kit change cured that. Had a few then it died so a re freed and started switching around my rigs trying to get bites. The wind was a problem with presentation and I even had to use a rod rest on the short line to hold it still. The bomb line only produced one more and the only place I could get bites was at 13 meters when I could keep the rig still. I then put groundbait on the short line and caught a couple of bonus skimmers. But it was hard going. Just kept switching looking for bites. I eventually had a carp on the short line but playing it killed that line. Then the rain started and I thought I felt cold before. I basically lost all feeling in my fingers, and after loosing a large carp from the margin line that snapped me off I tried to put another hook length on and couldn't cos I couldn't feel my hands. So I packed up with 20 minutes to go as I couldn't stop shivering. I recon it's the coldest I've ever felt fishing. At the weigh in I put  4-12 of mainly skimmers and 21-12 of carp for a 26-8 total. That got me top silvers by default. Happy days. First was Brian Shanks who caught mainly on long pole on meat for 77-14 on peg 2. Second was the ever consistent Mike Nicholls on peg 3 with a total of 51-11. Cheers for the silvers pool Mike.

1st, Brian Shanks 77-14
2nd Mike Nicholls 51-11
3rd Mark Summer 44-11, peg 22

Silvers
1st Mike Nicholls 6-02
2nd Stuart Barnett 4-12

Landsend Saturday open.

Got to the venue with just 15 minutes to scoff down a breakfast, who h I managed to do easily and then grabbed the last time let in the bucket. Out comes 19, happy days. It's had form lately so was fairly confident for a change. Not had the best of luck for a bit but that changed last summer day at Windmill and this made it two on the trot. Usually a good peg to fish lo g to the island and grab  carp shallow as they come.e around the corner. But today that didn't happen. It fished realy hard with several anglers struggling to get more than a couple of fish. The water was gin clear and I never saw any life by the island all day. Not a single fish came around. All I could catch on was single dead red fished at the bottom of the far shelf. As I said it was gin clear and. Upping in casters I could see them fall through the water for about five seconds at 11 meters. So it was a day of winkling out small skimmers with two bonus fish. I'd hoped a carp or two might find the lose feed but never hooked one all day. At he end I'd caught what I thought was 7lb and I was close with 7-15 which was enough to take the silvers pool. The match was won by Nick Ducket with 72-4 from peg 23. He had a thick blanket of leaves and caught shallow dropping between them right across. I think the leaves gave some cover and helped them be more confident. Second was Russ Peck from peg 13 with a similar leaf cover. He managed just 27-10. Strangely, I enjoyed the struggle today. Working hard for bites that at times were along time between. Not set my stall out for silvers for ages. Maybe it's the new me.

1st, Nick Ducket 72-4. Peg 23
2nd. Russ Peck 27-10. Peg 13
3rd, Mike Ducket 26-2. Peg 1

Silvers
1st Stuart Barnett 7-15. Peg 19
2nd Beany 4-12. Peg 5.